Builds on what teacher experience and research tells us are effective ways of developing children’s skills

THIS PROJECT IS ABSOLUTELY FREE

The pack includes lots more detail about how important certain skills and attitudes are to being a successful pupil and then, more importantly, successful in life. The project is designed to simulate a real working challenge that happens on a daily basis in the ‘world of work’. It gives an opportunity for teachers and children to develop the sort of skills that are constantly reported in the media and identified by the business community (such as the First Steps CBI report) as being essential but often lacking in young people leaving education and beginning a career. The more often, and earlier, that we include a focus on these sort of skills the better we are preparing our pupils for the rest of their lives….or am I being simplistic? I can imagine the number of CVs that the average recruitment officer must get in local companies. How many will have GCSEs, A Levels, a degree….more and more people are going to university…so how do you make yourself stand out when you get that interview or work trial? Show that you don’t just pass tests but can be creative and work independently? I will get off my soapbox now. Schools are under such pressure from the context in which they work; a context where scores on the doors reflecting passing of tests, is the main focus. In my experience most schools don’t simply subscribe to this simplistic view of children as test fodder but also seek to give them wider experiences and prepare them to be citizens. This project is an ideal focus for that aspect of their education and builds on the successful Challenge Day model (see the tab above). It is also an attempt to raise the profile of what ‘business’ wants from schools beyond what OfSTED demand as they will have a greater impact on a child’s life in the long term than what grade HMI comes up with. Schools know that literacy and numeracy (and increasingly digital literacy) are vitally important, more than any political pronouncement from any politician on any side, my belief is that developing these skills should be and could be given equal importance. By doing so they actually develop those experiences and skills that make them more motivated, knowledgeable about what their lives could be like and independent in developing their own learning.

Want to know what the finished product might look like? Then click HEREto see the original inspiration for the event and HEREfor the most recent event in KZ.